Southland captain Geoff Folster led from the front with an unbeaten 71 to take the Hawke Cup match away from hosts North Otago in the regional two-day match at Centennial Park in Oamaru at the weekend.
Folster, who top-scored for Southland in its paltry first-innings total of 86, turned the match coming in at number seven as Southland chased a testing target of 182 for victory.
A Southland win may have looked rather likely early in the match after Southland won the toss and inserted North Otago on a lively Centennial Park pitch.
North Otago responded with a battling 114, with none of the batsmen able to get a start. Number 10 batsman James Lovelock was the top scorer behind extras, with a well-worked 20.
Former Black Cap Jeff Wilson showed his irrepressible class throughout the match and started with the ball in the first innings. On a restricted workload to manage his injury problems, his 10 overs were delivered at a brisk pace and netted him three wickets including the key wickets of Dunedin club imports Shaun Haig and Jarrod Waldron.
Wilson was bettered, however, by Southland opening bowler Nic Turner, who kept the batsmen guessing as he knocked a gaping hole in North Otago’s lower order.
But things went from rather pleasant to awful very quickly for Southland as six batsmen were sent back to the pavilion before 15 runs were on the board, including three batsmen with ducks.
Folster arrested the slide in a 52-run partnership with Mark Billcliff for the seventh wicket. The pair took the pitch out of the equation, scoring at better than a run a ball. Simon Murphy further assisted Folster but the initial damage was done, as Southland only reached 86.
The two Craigs, Smith and Direen, were the main destroyers, snaring four and three wickets respectively. Smith, in particular, produced plenty of false shots from the Southland batsmen, while Direen nagged away at a steady length.
After an early setback when Geoff Smith was bowled for a duck, North Otago set about building on its first innings lead. Captain Marcel McKenzie (21) played the anchor role to Shaun Haig (48) before the brilliance of Wilson turned the match.
He collected both batsmen in the space of a couple of overs and then fired in a bullet of a throw from the boundary to help run out Jarrod Waldron for 2, to leave North Otago rebuilding at 75/4. But useful contributions from Blair Cooper, Tim Wilson and Craig Smith helped the home side through to 153 after an hour’s play on Sunday.
The confidence in the North Otago camp would have been high shortly after Southland’s run-chase got underway, as Southland slumped to 23/4 with the loss of Jonathan Homer. Craig Smith once again did the damage, with the first four Southland wickets attributed to him.
But it was that man Goldie who swung the match yet again. He struck four sixes and four fours in his 36-ball 45 before he was given out leg-before to a ball that hit him on the thigh.
His batting partner, Tim McClean, had earlier enjoyed a reprieve when he was bowled off a no-ball, and made the most of his let-off with a handy 18, supporting Wilson and then Folster.
The Southland captain scratched around early on before unleashing powerful drives and punishing anything on his legs. His unbeaten 71 was laced with 11 fours in his 84 balls at the crease.
As the pitch flattened out, Folster took toll, as did Simon Murphy, who joined Folster with 42 runs to go, and they got there in good time as the North Otago bowlers became tired.
